Long Vagrant Poems

Somehow, 
Forward, and headlong
I knew it was day again

There was a shift in the dark mutterings of the Devil,
Who now refused to sleep as I refused to sing,
Almost an anticipation in his voice,
As if he...

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Lady’s Favor
by Michael R. Burch

May
spring
fling
her riotous petals
devil-
may-care
into the air,
ignoring the lethal
nettles
and may
May
cry gleeful-
ly Hooray!
as the abundance
settles,
till a sudden June
swoon
leave us out of tune,
torn,
when the last rose is left
inconsolably bereft,
rudely shorn
of every device but her thorn.


The...

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Various Heresies 5

Tonight, Let's Remember
by Michael R. Burch

July 7,2007 (7-7-7)

Tonight, let's remember the fond ways
our fingers engendered new methods to praise
the gray at my temples, your thinning hair.
Tonight, let's remember, and let us draw near...

Tonight,...

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LOVE POEMS V

These are love poems by Michael R. Burch, about life, the dream of love, virtue, a first kiss, a first crush, the birth of a first relationship, the joy of a first love...

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From the window of my chic city office, lost in thought, I gaze out.
The pedestrians scurry like frenzied ants below, caught up in their bustling state of holiday insanity.
In his haste to cross the street...

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New Year Poetry

Auld Lange Syne
by Robert Burns
translation by Michael R. Burch 

Should old acquaintance be forgot,
And never brought to mind?
Should old acquaintance be forgot,
And days for which we pine?

For times we shared, my darling,
Days passed,...

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Sometimes I have the courage to think of the things that made me what I am today,
My memory takes me back to terrible things far away far off into my bitter past,
My mind like a...

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1—Milieu

Unique construction of body and mind
My niche in human pack not quickly found 
Raw young heart of a curious design
The empty mirrors for my soul abound

Subjectively a bit odd to myself
A jangled, disconnected kind of...

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Like the Evening Star guided ancient mariners through calm or troubled seas
Let it guide and help spread this message of Peace to the far ends of galaxies

May it become the ‘Swan Song Poem’ of all...

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Matsuo Basho New Haiku Translations

Air ballet:
twin butterflies, twice white,
meet, match & mate
—Matsuo Basho, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch 

Denied transformation
into a butterfly,
autumn worsens for the worm
—Matsuo Basho, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch 

Dusk-gliding...

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The moral mortgage of mice and men 

Yours truly quite astute,
especially regarding cute
little field mice, also known 
as meadow voles,
which imprecation one doth emote,
when aforementioned animal burrows inside
leaving pellet size poop in their wake
suddenly presenting...

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 Diary Notes: Lament at Dawn A Year Ago and yet now No Change
				                     ...

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Masalembo
2016 © Fleetwood


Blue-green ocean tipped with whitecaps rolling toward the shore
Plane is humming with the pilot talking about life and your ride is there parked on the hill for easy starting next to the palm...

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We are all Nameless



What else is there to do
but to tell you who I am,
but most of all,
what I wish to find.

I am not the cavalier of the sun, 
but the caveat of phantasm.

I do...

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Nothing much though will the heathen's heart accept from the duties of the eye,

Dated back to some years,this man was seen in a very dirty cloth and a slipper, 

No one bothered to speak to...

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Diary Notes: Lament at Dawn
				                             …at the...

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1. To the clear bidding for one, a mug wump it stands
showcasing mouthwatering care but with dirty hands
for trophy, for lust, all in a virulent game
changing faces and smiles and treating them the same
so surrounded...

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Beatin' this path 'til my heart stop
cause any moment my heart. could. stop.
Swear any day my chest might pop
So sit tight, bout to open up shop
Call this the English chop shop, loppin' slop
'til I'm atop...

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One day I wish to know, 
as the scars of devils do, 
when your eyes, married to the auburn fox, 
will remove their pantheon of petrified ghosts
and lay with me once again.


Lay with me again...

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I was a famous, American actress, who adored performing for live audiences,
In stage plays, both modern and classic, like velvet time, which often rushes.

Rose acclaim filled long, chaotic days, of colorful masquerades and fulfillment,
Like Sleeping...

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I was a stylish, assertive travel agent, arranging getaways for busy people;
Like sudden getaways of jewel, shooting stars, on ebony nights of upheaval.

I planned calm, exotic, trip itineraries, for all tired of city hustle and...

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*Secret love, two searching eyes*

I
The early morning's languorous mild sun 
Seemed jaded from a nightlong tiring jog, 
And liked dawn's dew-mixed mirth nor glee of smog,
Nor some stray passing clouds' hide-and-seek fun, 
Nor yet was...

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Milton was a person you couldn't help but like.
Almost every  time I wrote a Triolet
He'd stop by and visit and once said,
 "You know how I love the triolets!"
A gentle soul,  shared gentle...

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I wrote the Invisible man poems many years ago. These poems, and I have not submitted them all, was for a little girl who died in a road accident. They are a tribute to her...

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i WONDER IF I SHOULD WANDER THE WOODS

I’m talking to you about a young white boy wandering bad neighborhoods
You never warned me about the wolves in the woods
You simply walked me to the middle and...

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